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LIBRARY
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Digitized by Google
Treatise on Purgatory
BY
St. Catherine of Genoa.
Granalateo from tbe original Stalian.
WITH A PREFACE BY
His Eminence Cardinal Manning.
"In iis qu» de Purgatorio determinate non sunt
ab Eoclesii standum est iis quae sunt magis oonf ormia
dictis et revelationibus Sanctorum."— St. Thomas, in
4 sent. dist. 21, qusest, 1, a. 1 ; quoted by Bellarmine
lib. ii., o. rii., de Purg.
FOURTH EDITION,
London : BURNS & OATES, Ltd.
NEW TORE, CINCINNATI, CHICAGO : BENZIOEB BROS.
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BURNS AND OATES, LTD. PRINTERS, LONDON, W.
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PREFACE
TO THE FIRST EDITION.
The Treatise of St. Catherine of
Genoa on Purgatory has never, it
seems, been as yet rendered into
English. The present translation,
therefore, which is both faithful and
excellent in language, will be most
acceptable to those to whom this
wonderful book has hitherto been
closed.
Although Our Lord, by His
Apostle, has forbidden to women
the public ministry of teaching in
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iv.
Preface.
His Church, He has nevertheless
reserved for them a great and re-
splendent office in the edification of
His mystical Body. The lights and
inspirations bestowed upon them,
according to the words of the pro-
phet Joel, — " In the last days, saith
the Lord, I will pour out of my
Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons
and your daughters shall prophesy ;
. . . and upon My servants and
upon My handmaidens I will pour
out in those days of My Spirit,"—
are among the prerogatives bestowed
upon the Church by the day of Pen-
tecost ; and their dignity is among
the glories of the Mother of God,
whose daughters and handmaids
they are.
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Preface. v.
Two of the great festivals of the
Catholic Church had their origin in
the illumination of humble and un-
learned women. The Feast of Corpus
Christi was the offspring of the
devotion of the Blessed Juliana of
Retinne ; the Feast of the Sacred
Heart of that of the Blessed Margaret
Mary ; to St. Catherine of Sienna
Our Lord vouchsafed the honour of
calling back again the Sovereign
Pontiff from the splendid banish-
ment of Avignon to the throne of
the Apostolic See ; to St. Teresa the
special gift of illumination, to teach
the ways of union with Himself in
prayer; to Blessed Angela of Fo-
ligno the eighteen degrees of com-
punction, and His own five poverties;
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vi.
Preface.
and to St. Catherine of Genoa an
insight and perception of the state
of purgatory, which seem like the
utterances of one immersed in its
expiation of love.
Benedict XIV. tells us, in his
work on the Beatification and
Canonisation of Saints, that the
works of St. Catherine of Genoa
were examined knd approved by the
theologians of Paris : intending, no
doubt, the examination by the Sor-
bonne in 1666, by direction of the
Archbishop of Paris ; and again
by the Sacred Congregation in the
cause of her canonisation.* The
source from which she drew the
* Ben. XIV. de Beat, et Can. Sanct lib.
ii. c. xxvi. 2
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Preface. vii.
sweet and consoling illumination set
forth in the following pages, on the
mysterious sufferings and bliss of
purgatory, was a life of continued
pain and of ardent consuming love;
of perpetual expiation, and of abso-
lute conformity to the will of God.
And of this she says : " This way of
purgation which I see in the souls
in purgatory, I feel in my own mind,
chiefly in the last two years ; day by
day I feel and see it more clearly. I
see my soul to be standing in the
body as in a purgatory conformed
and like to the true purgatory. . . .
All the things I have hitherto said I
see and touch ; but I can find no fit
words to express as fully as I desire
to say it ; and what I have said I
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viii.
Preface
feel to be working spiritually within
me, and therefore I have said it."*
The Saint was born in Genoa, in
1447, of the family of Fieschi. Her
parents married her to Giuliano
Adorno, of a noble Genoese house.
After his death she served the sick
in the Great Hospital, where her
body, still perfect and visible, is
venerated over the high altar in the
choir of the religious which is at-
tached to the wards, and looks down
upon the external Church ; and her
memory is blessed among the Saints
as the Seraph of Genoa.
H. E. MANNING.
All Souls Day, 1858.
* Trattato del Purgatorio, c. xvii.
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TREATISE ON PURGATORY.
The Saint shows how she understood Purga-
tory from the Divine fire which she felt
within herself y and in what manner the
souls there are both happy and tormented.
CHAPTER I.
STATE OF THE SOULS IN PURGA-
TORY, HOW THEY ARE FREE
FROM ALL SELF-LOVE.
This holy soul, yet in the flesh,
found herself placed in the purga
tory of God's burning love, which
consumed and purified . her from
whatever she had to purify, in order
that after passing out of this life
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2
A Treatise
she might enter at once into the im-
mediate presence of God her Be-
loved. By means of this furnace
of love she understood how the
soiils of the faithful are placed in
purgatory to get rid of all the rust
and stain of sin that in this life was
left unpurged. As she, plunged in
the Divine furnace of purifying
love, was united to the object of her
love, and satisfied with all that He
wrought in her, so she understood
it to be with the souls in purga-
tory, and said : —
The souls in purgatory, as far as
I can understand the matter, cannot
but choose to be there ; and this by
God's ordinance, Who has justly
decreed it so. They cannot reflect
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on Purgatory. 3
within themselves and say, " I have
done such and such sins, for which
I deserve to be here ; " nor can they
say, ' 6 Would that I had not done
them, that now I might go to Para-
dise ; " nor yet say, "That soul is
going out before me;" nor, "I
shall go out before him." They
can remember nothing of themselves
or others, whether good or evil,
which might increase the pain they
ordinarily endure ; they are so com-
pletely satisfied with what God has
ordained for them, that He should
be doing all that pleases Him, and
in the way it pleases Him, that they
are incapable of thinking of them-
selves even in the midst of their
greatest sufferings. They behold
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4
A Treatise
only the goodness of God, whose
mercy is so great in bringing men
to Himself, that they cannot see
anything that may affect them,
whether good or bad ; if they could,
they would not be in pure charity.
They do not know that their suffer-
ings are for the sake of their sins,
nor can they keep in view the sins
themselves ; * for in doing so there
would be an act of imperfection,
which could have no place where
there can be no longer any possi-
bility of actually sinning.
Once, in passing out of this life,
they perceive why they have their
purgatory ; but never afterwards,
otherwise self would come in.
* See Appendix A.
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on Purgatory. 5
Abiding, then, in charity, and not
being able to deviate therefrom by
any real defect, they have no will,
no desire, nothing but the will of
pure love ; they are in that fire of
purgatory by the appointment of
God, which is all one with pure
love ; and they cannot in anything
turn aside from it, because, as they
can no more merit, so they can no
more sin.
CHAPTER II.
THE JOY OF THE SOULS IN PURGA-
TORY — THE SAINT SHOWS HOW
THEY ARE EVER SEEING GOD
MORE AND MORE — DIFFICULTY IN
SPEAKING OF THEIR CONDITION.
I do not believe it would be pos-
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6
A Treatise
sible to find any joy comparable to
that of a soul in purgatory, except
the joy of the blessed in paradise —
a joy which goes on increasing day
by day, as God more and more
flows in upon the soul, which He
does abundantly in proportion as
every hindrance to His entrance is
consumed away. The hindrance *
is the rust of sin ; the fire consumes
the rust, and thus the soul goes on
laying itself open to the Divine in-
flowing.
It is as with a covered object.
The object cannot respond to the
rays of the sun, not because the sun
ceases to shine, — for it shines with-
out intermission, — but because the-
* See Appendix B.
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on Purgatory. 7
covering intervenes. Let the cover-
ing be destroyed, again the object
will be exposed to the sun, and will
answer to the rays which beat
against it in proportion as the work
of destruction advances. Thus the
souls are covered by a rust — that is,
sin — which is gradually consumed
away by the fire of purgatory ; the
more it is consumed, the more they
respond to God their true Sun ;
their happiness increases as the
rust falls off, and lays them open to '
the Divine ray ; and so their happi-
ness grows greater as the impedi-
ment grows less, till the time is ac-
complished. The pain, however,
does not diminish, but only the
time of remaining in that pain. As
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8
A Treatise
far as their will is concerned, these
souls cannot acknowledge the pain as
such, so completely are they satisfied
with ordinance of God, so entirely is
their will one with it in pure charity.
Ontheotherhand,theysufferatorment
so extreme, that no tongue could de-
- scribe it, no intellect could form the
least idea of it, if God had not
made it known by special grace ;
which idea, however, God's grace
has shown my soul ; but I cannot
find words to express it with my
tongue, yet the sight of it has never
left my mind. I will describe it as
I can : they will understand it whose
intellect the Lord shall vouchsafe to
open.
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on Purgatory. 9
CHAPTER III.
SEPARATION FROM GOD IS THE
GREATEST PUNISHMENT OF PUR-
GATORY—WHEREIN PURGATORY
DIFFERS FROM HELL.
All the pains of purgatory take
their rise from sin, original or ac-
tual. God created the soul perfectly-
pure and free from every spot of sin,
with a certain instinctive tendency
to find its blessedness in Him.
From this tendency it is drawn away
by original sin, and still more by
the addition of actual sin ; and the
farther off it gets, the more wicked
it becomes, because it is less in con-
formity with God.
Things are good only so far as
they participate in God. To irra-
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io A Treatise
tional creatures God communicates
Himself, without fail, as He wills,
and as He has determined ; to the
rational soul more or less, according
as He finds it purified from the im-
pediment of sin ; so that, when a
soul is approaching to that state of
first purity and innocence which it
had when created, the instinctive
desire of seeking happiness in God
develops itself, and goes on increas-
ing through the fire of love, which
draws it to its end with such impe-
tuosity and vehemence, that any ob-
stacle seems intolerable, andthe more
clear its vision, the more extreme its
pain.
Now because the souls in purga-
tory are without the guilt of sin,
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on Purgatory. 1 1
there is nothing to stand between
God and them except the punish-
ment which keeps them back, and
prevents this instinct from attaining
its perfection ; and from their keenly-
perceiving of what moment it is to
be hindered even in the least degree,
and yet that justice most strictly de-
mands a hindrance, there springs up
within them a fire like that of hell.
They have not the guilt of sin ; and
it is this latter which constitutes th e
malignant will of the damned, who
are excluded from sharing in the
goodness of God, and therefore re-
main in that hopeless malignity of
will by which they oppose the will
of God.
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12 A Treatise
CHAPTER IV.
STATE OF THE SOULS THAT ARE IN
HELL, AND THE DIFFERENCE
THERE IS BETWEEN THEM AND
THOSE IN PURGATORY— REFLEC-
TIONS OF THE SAINT UPON THOSE
WHO NEGLECT THEIR SALVATION.
From what has been said, it is clear
that the guilt of sin consists in the
perverse opposition of the will to the
will of God, and that so long as the
will continues thus evilly perverse
the guilt will continue. For those,
then, in hell, who have departed this
life with an evil will, there is no re-
mission of sin, neither can be, be-
cause there can be no more change
of will. In passing out of this life
the soul is fixed for good or evil
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on Purgatory. 13
according to its deliberate purpose
at the time ; as is written, " Where
shall I find thee (that is, at the hour
of death, with a will either to sin or
sorry for sin and penitent), there will
I judge thee : " and this judgment is
final ; because after death the will
can never again be free, but
must remain fixed in the condition
in which it was found at the
moment of death. The souls in
hell having been found at the
moment of death with a will to sin,
have with them an infinite degree
of guilt ; and the punishment they
suffer, though less than theydeserve,
is yet, so far as it exists, endless.
But the souls in purgatory have only
the punishment for sin, and not its
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14 A Treatise
guilt; for the guilt was effaced at
the moment of death, in that they
were found then deploring their sins
and penitent for having offended the
Divine Goodness ; so their punish-
ment has a limit, and goes on di-
minishing in duration, as has been
said.
O misery above every misery !
and so much the greater because
men in their blindness consider it so
little.
The punishment of the damned is
not, indeed, infinite in amount ; for
the sweet goodness of God sheds the
rays of His mercy even in hell. A
man who has died in mortal sin de-
serves a punishment infinite in pain
and infinite in duration ; but God in
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on Purgatory. 1 5
His mercy has made it infinite only
in duration, and has limited the
amount of pain. He might most
justly have given them a far greater
punishment than He has.
O how perilous is a sin committed
through malice ! for hardly does a
man repent of it ; and not repenting,
his guilt remains, and will remain,
so long as there is any affection for
the sin committed, or any purpose
of committing it afresh.
CHAPTER V.
THE PEACE AND JOY OF PURGATORY.
The souls in Purgatory having their
wills perfectly conformed to the will
of God, and hence partaking of His
goodness, remain satisfied with their
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1 6 A Treatise
condition, which is one of entire
freedom from the guilt of sin. For
when they passed out of this life,
penitent, with all their sins confessed
and resolved to sin no more, God
straightway pardoned them ; and
now they are as pure as when they
were created ; the rust of sin alone
is left, and this they get rid of by the
punishment of fire. Cleansed thus
from all sin, and united in will to
God, they see God clearly according
to the degree of light He imparts to
them ; they are conscious too what
a thing it is for them to enjoy God,
that for this very end souls were
created. Again, there is in them a
conformity of will so uniting them
to God, so drawing them to Him
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on Purgatory. 17
through that natural instinct whereby
God is, as it were, bound up with
the soul, that no description, no
figure, no example can give a clear
idea of it as it is actually felt and
apprehended by inward conscious-
ness ; nevertheless I will mention
something like it which suggests
itself to me.
CHAPTER VI.
COMPARISON TO EXPLAIN THE IM-
PETUOSITY AND LOVE BY WHICH
THE SOULS IN PURGATORY DESIRE
TO ENJOY GOD.
Let us suppose that there existed
in the world but one loaf ot bread to
satisfy the hunger of every creature,
and that the mere sight of it could
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1 8 A Treatise
do this. In such a case a man, hav-
ing naturally, if in good health, a
desire for food, would find himself,
so long as he was kept from dying
or falling sick, getting more and
more hungry; for his craving would
continue undiminished, — he would
know that the bread, and nothing but
the bread, could satisfy him, and not
being able to reach it, would remain
in intolerablepain ; the nearer he got
tothebreadwithoutseeingit,themore
ardently would he crave for it, and
would direct himself wholly towards
it, as being the only thing which
could afford relief ; and if he were
assured that he never could see the
bread he would have within him a
perfect hell, and become like the
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on Purgatory. 19
damned, who are cut off from all
hopeofeverseeingGod their Saviour,
who is the true Bread.
The souls in purgatory, on the
other hand, hope to see that Bread,
and satiate themselves to the full
therewith ; whence they hunger and
suffer pain as great as will be their
capacity of enjoying that Bread,
which is Jesus Christ the true God,
our Saviour and our love.
CHAPTER VII.
THE WONDERFUL WISDOM OF GOD
IN THE INVENTION OF PURGA-
TORY AND HELL.
As the soul cleansed and purified
finds no place wherein to rest but
God, this being its end by creation,
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2o A Treatise
so the soul in a state of sin finds no
place for it but hell, this being its
end by the appointment of God. No
sooner, then, does the soul leave the
body in mortal sin than it goes
straight to hell as to its allotted
place, with no other guide than the
nature of sin ; and should a soul not
find itself thus prevented by the
justice of God, but excluded alto-
gether from His appointment, it
would endure a still greater hell —
for God's appointment partakes of
His mercy, and is less severe than
the sin deserves ; as it is the soul,
finding no place suited to it, nor any
lesser pain provided for it by God,
casts itself into hell as into its proper
place. Thus, with regard to pur-
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on Purgatory. 21
gatory, when the soul leaves the
body, and finds itself out of that
state of purity in which it was
created, seeing the hindrance, and
that it can only be removed by pur-
gatory, without a moment's hesita-
tion it plunges therein : and were
there no such means provided to
remove the impediment, it would
forthwith beget within itself a hell
worse than purgatory, because by
reason of this impediment it would
see itself unable to reach God, its
last end : and this hindrance would
be so full ot pain, that, in comparison
with it, purgatory, though, as I have
said, it be like hell, would not be
worth a thought, but be even as
nothing.
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22 A Treatise
CHAPTER VIII.
THE NECESSITY OF PURGATORY,
AND HOW TERRIBLE IT IS.
Again I say that, on God's part, I
see paradise has no gate, but that
whosoever will may enter therein ;
for God is all mercy, and stands
with open arms to admit us to His
glory. But still I see that the Being
of God is so pure (far more than one
can imagine), that should a soul see
in itself even the least mote of im-
perfection, it would rather cast itself
into a thousand hells than go with
that spot into the presence of the
Divine Majesty. Therefore, seeing
purgatory ordained to take away
such blemishes, it plunges therein,
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I
on Purgatory. 23
and deems it a great mercy that it
can thus remove them.
No tongue can express, no mind
can understand, how dreadful is
purgatory. Its pain is like that of
hell ; and yet (as I have said) I see
any soul with the least stain of im-
perfection accept it as a mercy, not
thinking it of any moment when
compared with being kept from its
Love. It appears to me that the
gtearest pain the souls in purgatory
endure proceeds from their being
sensible of something in themselves
displeasing to God, and that it has
been done voluntarily against so
much goodness ; for, being in a
state of grace, they know the truth,
and how grievous is any obstacle
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24 A Treatise
which does not let them approach
God.
CHAPTER IX.
THE WAY IN WHICH GOD AND THE
SOULS REGARD ONE ANOTHER IN
PURGATORY — THE SAINT CON-
FESSES HER INABILITY TO EXPRESS
HERSELF ON THIS MATTER.
All the things of which I have
spoken, when compared with that
of which I am assured in my intelli-
gence, so far as I am able to com-
prehend it in this life, are of such
intensity, that, by the side of them,
all things seen, all things felt, all
things imagined, all things just and
true, seem to me lies and things of
naught. I am confounded at my
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on Purgatory. 25
inability to find stronger words. I
see that God is in such perfect con-
formity with the soul, that when He
beholds it in the purity wherein it
was created by His Divine Majesty,
He imparts a certain attractive im-
pulse of His burning love, enough
to annihilate it, though it be im-
mortal ; and in this way so trans-
forms the soul into Himself, its God,
that it sees in itself nothing but God,
who goes on thus attracting and in-
flaming it, until He has brought it
to that state of existence whence it
came forth — that is, the spotless
purity wherein it was created. And
when the soul, by interior illumina-
tion, perceives that God is drawing
it with such loving ardour to Him-
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26 A Treatise
self, straightway there springs up
within it a corresponding fire of love
for its most sweet Lord and God,
which causes it wholly to melt away:
it sees in the Divine light how con-
siderately, and with what unfailing
providence, God is ever leading it to
its full perfection, and that He does
it all through pure love ; it finds
itself stopped by sin, and unable to
follow the heavenly attraction, — I
mean that look which God casts on
it to bring it into union with Him-
self : and this sense of the grievous-
ness of being kept from beholding
the Divine light, coupled with that
instinctive longing which would fain
be without hindrance to follow the
enticing look, — these two things, I
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on Purgatory. 27
say, make up the pains of the souls
in purgatory. Not that they think
anything of their pains, however
great they be ; they think far more
of the opposition they are making
to the will of God, which they see
clearly is burning intensely with
pure love to them. God meanwhile
goes on drawing the soul to Himself
by His looks of love mightily, and,
as it were, with undivided energy :
this the soul knows well ; and could
it find another purgatory greater
than this by which it could sooner
remove so great an obstacle, it
would immediately plunge therein,
impelled by that conforming love
which is between God and the
soul.
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28 A Treatise
CHAPTER X.
HOW GOD MAKES USE OF PURGA-
TORY TO RENDER THE SOUL
PERFECTLY PURE — THE SOUL
THERE ATTAINS SUCH PURITY,
THAT WERE IT TO STAY AFTER
BEING CLEANSED IT WOULD NO
LONGER SUFFER.
Again, I see that the love of God
directs towards the soul certain
burning rays and shafts of light,
which seem penetrating and power-
ful enough to annihilate not merely
the body, but, were it possible, the
very soul itself. These work in two
ways ; they purify, and they anni-
hilate.
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on Purgatory. 29
Look at gold : the more it is
melted, the better it becomes ; and
it could be melted so as to destroy
every single defect. Such is the
action of fire on material things.
Now the soul cannot be annihilated
so far as it is in God, but only in
itself ; and the more it is purified,
so much the more it annihilates self,
till at last it becomes quite pure and
rests in God. Gold which has been
purified to a certain point ceases to
suffer any diminution from the action
of fire, however great it be ; for the
fire does not destroy gold, but only
the dross that it may chance to have.
In like manner the Divine fire acts
on souls: God holds them in the
furnace until every defect has been
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30 A Treatise
burnt away, and He has brought
them, each in his own degree, to a
certain standard of perfection. Thus
purified, they rest in God without
any alloy of self : their very being
is God ; they become impassible
because there is nothing left to be
consumed. And if in this state of
purity they were kept in the fire,
they would feel no pain ; rather it
would be to them a fire of Divine
Love, burning on without opposi-
tion, like the fire of life eternal.
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CHAPTER XI.
THE DESIRE OF THE SOULS IN
PURGATORY TO BE QUITE FREE
FROM THE STAINS OF THEIR SINS
— THE WISDOM OF GOD IN SUD-
DENLY HIDING FROM THOSE
SOULS THE DEFECTS THEY HAVE.
The soul in its creation was in-
vested with all the conditions of
which it was capable for reaching
perfection, supposing it to live ac-
cording to the appointment of God,
and keep altogether from the defile-
ments of sin. But, marred by ori-
ginal sin, it loses all its gifts and
graces, becomes dead ; and God
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32 A Treatise
alone can raise it to life again. And
when He has done so by baptism,
still the propensity to evil remains,
which, if unresisted, inclines and
leads to actual sin, whereby the soul
again dies. Again God restores it
to life ; but after this it is so tainted,
so turned to self, that to recall it to
its first state needs all that Divine
agency that I have been speaking
about, without which it never could
be recalled. And when the soul
finds itself on its way back to that
first state, it is so enkindled with the
desire of becoming one with God,
that this desire becomes its purga-
tory ; not that the soul can look at
purgatory as such, but the instinct
by which it is kindled, and the im-
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pediment by which it is hindered,
constitute its purgatory.
God performs this last act of love
without the co-operation of man ;
for there are so many secret imper-
fections within the soul, that the
sight of them would drive it to de-
spair. These are, however, all de-
stroyed during the process I have
described ; and when they are con-
sumed, God shows them to the soul,
that it may understand that it was
He who kindled that fire of love
which consumes every imperfection
there is to be consumed.
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34 A Treatise
CHAPTER XII.
THE UNION OF SUFFERING AND
JOY IN PURGATORY.
Know that what man deems per-
fection is in the sight of God a de-
fect. All the things which have
the appearance of perfection, so far
as they come before the sight, the
feeling, the understanding, the
memory, or the will, are tainted and
spoilt if not recognised as from God.
For a work to be perfect, it must be
wrought in us, without our co-ope-
ration as principal agents ; it must
be God's work, done in God, and
man must not in any way take the
lead. Such precisely is that opera-
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tion of His pure and simple love
which God finally works in us, with-
out any merit of our own ; wherein
he so penetrates and burns the soul,
that the surrounding body is con-
sumed away, and can no more hold
up, than one could remain alive and
rest patiently amid the flames of a
burning fiery furnace. It is true
that the overflowing love of God
bestows upon the souls in purga-
tory a happiness beyond expression
great : but then this happiness does
not in the least diminish the pain —
rather the pain is constituted by this
love finding itself impeded ; the
more perfect the love of which God
makes the soul capable, the greater
the pain.
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36 A Treatise
In this manner the souls in pur-
gatory at the same time experience
the greatest happiness and the most
excessive pain ; and one does not
prevent the other.
CHAPTER XIII.
HOW THE SOULS IN PURGATORY
ARE NO LONGER IN A STATE TO
MERIT, AND HOW THEY REGARD
THE CHARITY EXERCISED IN THE
WORLD FOR THEM.
If the souls in purgatory could
purge themselves of their stains by
contrition, they would in a single
instant discharge all their debt, so
ardent and so impetuous an act
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would they make, seeing in so clear
a light the effects of the impediment
which hinders them from attaining
to their end, which is God, the ob-
ject of their love. And be assured
that the souls have to pay what they
owe even to the uttermost farthing :
this is God's decree, to satisfy the
demands of justice. As to the souls
themselves, they have no choice ol
their own in the matter ; they see
nothing but God's will ; nor do they
wish otherwise, because they have
been so determined.
They would not care for alms con-
tributed by the living to shorten
their period of pain, were not those
precisely balanced by the will of
God ; they leave all in His hands,
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38 A Treatise
Who exacts satisfaction as it pleases
His infinite goodness. And could
they regard those alms apart from
the Divine Will, it would be an act
of selfishness which would prevent
their seeing the Divine Will, and
would be to them a very hell. They
remain immovably fixed on what-
ever God wills for them, and neither
pleasure nor pain can ever again
cause them to turn to self.
CHAPTER XIV.
ON THE SUBMISSION TO THE WILL
OF GOD THAT THE SOULS IN
PURGATORY HAVE.
These souls are so closely united,
so transformed into the will of God,
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that in all things they are satisfied
with His most holy decree ; and
were a soul presented before God
with ever so little to purge away, it
would suffer grievous hurt and a
torment worse than ten purgatories.
That unspotted sanctity, that perfect
justice, could not endure it ; to do
so would be unbecoming on the part
of God. Should, then, the soul per-
ceive that it lacked even a moment
of satisfying God most completely,
it would be to it a thing intolerable ;
and rather than stand thus imper-
fectly cleansed in the presence of
God, it would plunge at once into a
thousand hells.
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40 A Treatise
CHAPTER XV.
HOW THE SOULS IN PURGATORY
REBUKE THE MEN OF THIS WORLD.
44 Would that I could cry out"
(said this blessed soul, when under
Divine illumination she saw these
things), 4 4 loud enough to strike with
fear every man upon the earth, and
say, Miserable beings, why suffer
ye yourselves to be so blinded by
this world as to make no provision
for the dire strait ye will find your-
selves in at the hour of death ? Ye
all shelter yourselves under the hope
of God's mercy, which ye say is so
great ; and ye consider not that this
very goodness of God will rise up in
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judgment against you for having
opposed the will of so good a Master:
His mercy ought to constrain you
to do all His Will, and not encour-
age you to do evil. Be assured that
His justice cannot yield, but must
in one way or other be fully satisfied.
Let no one buoy himself up saying,
' I shall confess ; and then I shall
receive a plenary indulgence, where-
by I shall be cleansed from all my
sins and get through safely.' Know
that a plenary indulgence requires
confession and contrition ; and this
latter is so difficult to obtain, that if
ye knew how difficult, ye would
tremble with fear, and rather make
sure of not gaining than of gaining
the indulgence."
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42 A Treatise
CHAPTER XVI.
THE SAINT SHOWS THAT THE SUF-
FERINGS OF THE SOULS IN PUR-
GATORY DO NOT DESTROY THEIR
PEACE OR THEIR JOY.
I see that the souls in purgatory in
the midst of their pains are sensible
of doing two things :
First, that they are suffering will-
ingly ; for when they perceive their
own deserts and God's Majesty, they
think that He is treating them with
great leniency in afflicting them as
He does ; for had not goodness tem-
pered justice with mercy through
the satisfactions of the precious
Blood of Jesus Christ, a thousand
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hells would have been the portion
of a single sin through all eternity.
Hence they suffer all their pains
gladly, and would not rid them of a
single pang, knowing that all is
justly deserved and righteously or-
dained : they no more complain of
God, so far as their will is concerned,
than if they were in life eternal.
Secondly, they are conscious of
feeling positive satisfaction in be-
holding the love and mercy with
which God orders His work within
them. They are made sensible of
these two facts at one and the same
moment, and beingin a stateof grace,
understand them as they are, each
soul according to its capacity ; and
they experience great happiness,
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44 A Treatise
which never grows less, but, on the
contrary, goes on increasing the
nearer they approach God. They do
not know these things directly in
themselves, but in God, on whom
their attention is more fixed — far
more — than on the pains they suffer,
and of whom in comparison they
make far more account. For one
glimpse of God exceeds every pain
and every joy a man can conceive,
and though it exceeds, does not take
away one particle of the joy or of the
pain.
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CHAPTER XVII.
THE SAINT, IN CONCLUSION, APPLIES
ALL THAT HAS BEEN SAID OF THE
SOULS IN PURGATORY TO WHAT
SHE FEELS AND EXPERIENCES IN
HER OWN MIND.
That which I have thus described
as going on within the souls who
are actually in purgatory, I have
experienced in my own soul, especi-
ally during the last two years ; and
each day I see and feel itmoreclearly.
I perceive my soul in the midst of my
body as in a purgatory, conformed
and like to the true purgatory, in mea-
sure, however, that the body may be
able to endure it and not die ; yet the
pain goes on increasing gradually
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46 A Treatise
until death. I see the soul estranged
to all things, even spiritual, which
can give it nourishment — as joy,
delight, consolation ; and it has no
power of tasting anything temporal
or spiritual by will, by understand-
ing* by memory, so that I can say,
" This thing pleases me more than
that other." My soul is, as it were,
besieged in such a manner that all
spiritual or bodily refreshments are
gradually cut off ; and when they
have been cut off, the soul, although
it knows well how it could have been
fed and comforted by them, looks on
them with feelings of hatred and ab-
horrence, and rejects them all with-
out repairing its loss. This happens
because there exists within the soul
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an impulse to get rid of every hind-
rance to its perfection ; and that, too,
with such severity to itself, that it
would almost suffer itself to be cast
into hell to reach this end : and so it
goes on, removing everything which
might feed the inward man, and be-
sieges itself so straitly, that not even
the least particle of imperfection can
pass without being spied out, and
rejected with abhorrence. My body,
too, since it can no longer communi-
cate with the soul, is in like manner
besieged, and unable to obtain any-
thing to refresh its human nature ;
there is no comfort for it but God,
Who does all He does to satisfy His
justice lovingly and with great
mercy. When I see this, I feel
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48 A Treatise
satisfaction and peace ; but my
sufferings are not the less, nor am I
the less straitly besieged. No suf-
ferings, however, could make me
wish it otherwise than God has de-
termined for me ; I remain in my
prison without a wish to come out
till God has done all that I need.
My happiness is that God should be
satisfied ; and the greatest pain I
could endure would be being ex-
cluded from His ordinance, for I see
how just and merciful it is.
I am sensible of all these things I
have described as it were by sight
and touch, but I cannot find fitting
words to express myself as I could
wish. I have said what I have,
because I was conscious of its going
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on spiritually within me. The prison
in which I fancy myself shut up is
the world ; the chain by which I am
held is the body ; the soul enlight-
ened is she who, knowing well the
grievousness of being detained and
kept back by any hindrance from
reaching her end, suffers thereby
great pain, inasmuch as she is very
tender. God, by His grace, bestows
upon her a dignity which makes her
like God, and not only like God, but
even one with Him through partici-
pating in His goodness ; and as it is
impossible that God should suffer
pain, so it is with the souls that ap-
proach Him ; and the nearer they
approach Him, the more they share
in that which belongs to Him. The
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50 A Treatise
hindrance, then, that the sojul meets
with, causes it to feel an intolerable
pain ; and the pain, together with
the hindrance, obstruct those pro-
perties which it has by nature and
which by grace are revealed to it ;
and not being able to attain them,
although capable of them, the soul
remains in suffering great in propor-
tion to its appreciation of God. This
appreciation of God grows with its
knowledge of God ; and its know-
ledge is greater the more it is free
from sin : and the delay becomes
more and more terrible, because the
soul wholly immersed in God, knows
Him without error, there being no-
thing in the way to prevent such
knowledge. The man who would
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sooner die than offend God, feels
death and the pain of dying ; but
the sight of God supplies him with
a zeal which makes him think more
of the Divine honour than bodily
death. In like manner, a soul know-
ing what God has appointed for it
thinks more of the appointment than
any outward or inward pain, no
matter how dreadful ; and this be-
cause God, the Author of it, sur-
passes everything that can be
thought of or imagined. The parti-
cipation of Himself that God grants
the soul, however slight it be, keeps
it so wholly taken up with His Ma-
jesty that it can think of nothing
else ; everything to do with self pas-
ses away, — it neither sees, speaks,
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52 A Treatise
nor knows loss or pain of its own ;
but all this, as has been already
clearly said, it perceives at the
instant of passing from this life.
Finally, in conclusion, I mean that
God, who is good and great, de-
stroys all which is of man, and
purgatory purifies it.
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on Purgatory. 53
APPENDICES.
Appendix A.
The Saint must here be understood
to mean that the souls in purgatory
cannot recollect the specific reasons
of the pains they suffer ; that they
cannot say, " I have done such
and such sins, for which I deserve
to be here." She cannot mean
absolutely that they do not know
that the pains they suffer are in
punishment for their sins. For
besides such ignorance being
scarcely conceivable, it is con-
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54 Appendices.
trary to her own express state-
ment in chap, vii., where she
says, that 4 4 that which causes the
souls in purgatory most pain, is
the seeing in themselves a thing
displeasing to God ; and the being
conscious that it has been admitted
against so much goodness."
Appendix B.
There is a difference of opinion
among theologians as to the nature
of that purification which the souls
undergo in purgatory. From what
are they purified? from the guilt
of sin, or simply from imperfec-
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Appendices. 55
tions? If from imperfections, in
what sense do they become per-
fect? In that they are intrinsically
improved ; or is it merely that they
have bettered their condition before
God?
Bellarmine goes so far as to
maintain that the culpa or guilt
of venial sin is remitted in purga-
tory. To Calvin's objection to
Matt. xii. 32 being quoted in
favour of purgatory, because there
Our Lord is speaking of sin being
remitted in the world to come
quoad culpam, whereas purgatory
only remits sin quoad pcenam, he
replies, "that at least venial sin
is remitted in purgatory quoad cut-
pam" (De Purg. lib. i. c. iv. 6).
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56 Appendices.
He says that the true opinion is
St. Thomas's, that the guilt of
venial sin, culpas veniales, is re-
mitted in purgatory by an act of
love and patient endurance (De
Purg. lib. i. c. xiv. 22).
Suarez, on the other hand, does
not seem to admit that purgatory
betters the soul in any other sense
than enabling it to discharge the
debt of punishment due to sin
(Suarez, Disp. xi., sec. iv. a 2, §
10). All the guilt of sin, he says,
is remitted at the first moment of
the soul's separation from the body
— in primo instanti separationis
animcB a corpore — "by a single
act of contrition, whereby the will
is wholly converted to God, and
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Appendices. 57
turned away from every venial
sin " (§ 13). And in this way y
he says, sin may be remitted —
quoad culpam — in purgatory, be-
cause the soul's purification dates
from this moment (§ 10). As to
bad habits and vicious inclinations,
he says, i i We ought not to imagine
that the soul is detained for these :
for so far as they arise from the
sensitive appetite, they are laid
aside with the body ; so far as
they are in the will, they are
either taken away at the moment
of death, or expelled by an infusion
of the contrary virtues when the
soul enters into glory " (Disp. xlvii.
sec. i. 6).
Now which view, it may be
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58 Appendices.
asked, does St. Catherine coun-
tenance in the present treatise —
that of Bellarmine or that of
Suarez? She is plainly unfavour-
able to Bellarmine's view of the
culpa, or guilt of venial sin, being
remitted in purgatory : for she says
(chap, iii.) that "the souls in
purgatory are free from the guilt
of sin, and nothing is between God
and them except the punishment ; "
and in chap, iv., that the souls in pur-
gatory have only the punishment,
the guilt — la culpa — having been
cancelled at the moment of death ;
and so far she supports Suarez. Yet
there are not wanting many passages
which make it very doubtful whether
she is altogether on his side.
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Appendices. 59
What does the Saint understand
by the macchia, or stain, which
she says is upon the soul after
sin, and to get rid of which it
must needs go through purga-
tory? According to St. Thomas,
the effect of sin is threefold: 1. It
weakens the soul's natural propen-
sity to good — corrumpit bonum
natures; 2. It leaves a stain —
causat maculam— on the soul ; 3.
It incurs a debt of punishment —
facit hotninen reum pance. The
stain, or macula, is altogether a
privative idea. As the result of
mortal sin, "it is that shadow
which is upon the soul when the
light of grace can no longer shine
there, which shade in some way
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60 Appendices.
or other takes its shape* from the
actual sin which has caused it —
Est privatio nitoris gratia sen quod
idem est ipsiusmet gratia connotans
peccatum actuate prcecedens a quo
causatur" (Billuart, vol. iv. d. vii.
a n). As the result of venial sin,
it is the diminution of the fervour of
charity: Est privatio fervorischaritatis
expeccatis actualibus venialibus (Ibid.).
Speaking analogously of the
souls in purgatory, does the Saint
mean by the macchia, or stain, that
shade or gloom which is over the
soul in consequence of being de-
prived of the light of glory ?
* " Sicut umbra quae est varia pro diversi-
tate corporum." (St. Thomas, Sum. Th. I.
2, q. 86.)
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Appendices. 6 1
The comparison chapter ii. at in
first sight seems favourable to such
a notion ; but then it is to be ob-
served in that comparison, that the
Saint has evidently before her mind
the ruggine del peccato as the cause,
not the effect, of God's not shining
into the soul.
Perhaps, then, there is no re-
ference in this macchia to St.
Thomas's macula. It may simply
mean the state of the soul which
has not paid the debt of punish-
ment when it ought. For that it
includes in it the idea of an
imperfection in the soul, and
not simple punishment, seems
evidently implied by its being
opposed (chapter viii.) not merely
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62 Appendices.
to God's justice, but to His purity.
But does it not also include the
corruptio naturalis boni, — that weak-
ness in the direction of virtue, those
bad dispositions, those unheavenly
tastes, which the soul contracts
through sin, and which remain
after the guilt of sin is remitted?
Certainly such could be got rid of,
as Suarez suggests, in a moment ;
but there seems a moral fitness
that it should not be so, — that as
they have been gained by slow
degrees, and a repetition of acts,
they should be got rid of by a
like process, — that in getting back
to virtue we should have to retrace
the steps we have taken in depart-
ing therefrom. We know that such
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Appendices. 63
is God's way of dealing with souls
in this life, why should we think
it is different in purgatory ?
There are several passages in
the treatise which make one think
that this must have been St. Cathe-
rine's view. In chapter xi. she
almost, if not quite, says so. She
says that when the soul has been
restored to grace, it often remains
so stained and turned to self (itn-
brattata e conversa verso se stessa),
that to recall it to its first state,
as God created it, needs all those
operations of the Divine power
which she has been describing,
without which it could never be
recalled. Now what can she mean
here but selfish habits? She con-
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64 Appendices.
eludes the treatise by saying, that
" God, Who is great and good,
destroys all that is of man, and
purgatory purifies it." Now what
can be meant by all that is of man
except earthly inclinations?
It is very easy to reconcile what
the Saint says elsewhere, which
looks the other way. For instance,
in chapter iii., where she says, that
there is nothing between God and
the souls except the punishment,
it may be conceived that the Saint
includes this very getting rid of
the bad inclinations as a part of
the punishment : observe, in con-
nection with the preceding context,
what she says in chapter xi. about
the istinto acceso ed impedito con-
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Appendices. 6 5
stituting the soul's purgatory.
Again, it may be thought, that in
chapter i., the idea of imperfection
is excluded from the souls in pur-
gatory ; but the Saint there only
speaks of the impossibility of acts
of imperfection existing in purga-
tory : such inclinations and habits
as are here supposed are altogether
passive. And that she does not
exclude all idea of imperfection is
evident both, as was said before,
from her making the impediment
something opposed to God's purity,
and from her own express state-
ment in chapter xi., where she says
that 1 i there are so many secret
imperfections in the soul, that were
it to see them it would be driven
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66 Appendices.
to despair ; that God in that final
condition of the soul consumes
them, and when consumed, shows
them to the soul, that it may know
that it is He who has caused the
fire of love, which consumes what-
ever of imperfection there is to
consume. "
Bellarmine, an authority on such
a subject by no means inferior to
Suarez, doubts, "An sicut in hac
vita immoderatus amor erga tem-
poralia purgatur a Deo variis
afflictionibus, ut mortibus uxoris,
liberorum, &c, ita etiam credibile
sit, post hanc vitam adhuc-re-
manere in anima separata ali-
quas reliquias talium affectionum
actualium quae purgari debeant
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Appendices. 67
tribulationibus et molestiis n (De
Pur. lib. i. c. xv. 25).
On the whole, there does not
appear anything contrary to sound
theology in the idea of such an
intrinsic improvement taking place
in the soul in purgatory as is im-
plied in the gradual getting rid of
passive bad habits and earthly
tastes. Such a notion is very
much in accordance with what we
know of God's dealings with the
soul here on earth, and seems
countenanced by the present treat-
ise.
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